This trendy supplement is devastating your liver and damaging your heart. Stop taking it before it's too late.
Turmeric has long enjoyed a reputation as a natural remedy with powerful anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. While it's safe in its spice form, supplements containing high doses of curcumin and additives to enhance its effects can be dangerous. Doctors warn that a lack of quality control and provenance increases the risk of adverse reactions.
At the American College of Gastroenterology conference in North Carolina, researchers described five people who came to doctors with severe liver damage after taking turmeric supplements.
A 49-year-old patient developed nausea, vomiting, and jaundice after several months of supplementation. The symptoms resolved after discontinuing the medication but recurred when she resumed treatment. A biopsy confirmed severe liver damage. A 62-year-old patient consumed a curcumin infusion and was subsequently hospitalized with abdominal pain and yellowing of the whites of her eyes. Liver damage was also diagnosed.
According to the US National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive Kidney Diseases, more than a dozen similar cases were reported in the first half of 2021.
Data from the British health service Special Pharmacy Service (SPS) shows that turmeric supplements may also be harmful to the cardiovascular system.
Seven percent of reported adverse events involve heart rhythm disturbances . In one case, a patient developed atrioventricular block after taking 1,500–2,250 mg of turmeric daily. After discontinuing the medication, the heart rhythm normalized, but the problem recurred upon reintroduction of the supplement.
"Liver damage is caused by the active ingredients of herbs, other ingredients, or various contaminants. In the near future, an increase in the incidence of toxic liver damage from herbs and dietary supplements is expected due to the increasing consumption of these preparations," emphasizes Prof. Andrzej Habior, MD, PhD, gastroenterologist.
Possible side effects include:
- acute and chronic hepatitis,
- massive necrosis,
- cholestatic syndromes and vascular changes,
- liver cirrhosis.
Unlike pharmaceuticals, dietary supplements in Poland and many other countries do not undergo rigorous clinical trials. The registration process is simpler, which means it's easier to introduce a product with unverified ingredients to the market, there's a greater risk of contamination, and manufacturers can add substances that enhance the effects of the main ingredient.
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